Mattie McGrath Criticises Rushed Bill and NGO Power

I'm happy to speak in this bill, although I'm very perplexed about the manner in which it's here and arriving here as a result of a Supreme Court judgment, but why in the eleventh hour or eleventh and a half hour of the Dáil Tarum, and what's more concerning is the fact that you have said, well not you Minister, and I've no disrespect to you, I've worked with you for years, but where are the planning ministers, the environmental ministers, I don't know if your brief covers it, maybe it does, I thought it was education, because they could do with an education on how to treat this house, we're elected here to make and consider legislation and put amendments, and the minister has stated that they're going to bring forward government amendments on top of this next week, and where's the time to discuss them, we don't know what they are, so this debate today could be actually wide, empty, because they're going to bring forward government amendments, I've never seen a debate of it, and I'm here nearly 15 years, or more than 15 years, and it's just shocking, as I said, rushing this, we have 19 pieces of legislation came before us in the last number of weeks in this house, and we had only half that, you know, 12 to be fair during the year before that, so and this is a pattern that has crept in, and the council came up this morning at a business committee, and it's not right because we, and it seems to be a carefully laid out plan, because none of your backbenchers are coming in, I can appreciate Deputy Leading this here but legislation during this week, not a backbencher from Fianna Fáil, Fianna Gael or Greens spoke on them so as if it's to say, let it off, let the opposition puff and blow and huff and puff and bring the house down and we'll pass this anyway, and you couldn't, being a whip of a group you couldn't watch it, because this is speakers, and you're not turning up, they're not turning up to speak and then they're coming out they don't have time, so there's huge issues in planning and La Crancola is gone and I appreciate that, but she has issues and I differ fundamentally around the area of Antashka now Antashka did great work and the schools and the green flags and everything, and there's some good work environmentally as well but I I resent, and I raise it in this floor the way they treated an industry in South Kilkenny thankfully the side was turned last week after several core challenges around Antashka now, the strange I have no problem with people taking the right of the core challenge either but when they really and the Taoiseach said here to me when they have to have to limit the number of jurist reviews and we really have to because they had no issue with the plant are the emissions are the grant of the as I said the EPA licence or anything else but they had an issue with the cowhound how weird is that that the building itself pristine plant a cheese making plant ready market for Dutch investors and we almost lost it and meanwhile we were ferrying last summer and this summer and the summer before milk from South Kilkenny Tipperary my area and indeed all of Tipperary and other counties up to Strathwine Dairy and everything else because we couldn't cope with it below and where's the what about the what about the CO2 levels there on the emissions from the trucks how narrow-minded and how how perverse the members of the Tashka we met with them Deputy Collins and myself and my colleagues and we got nothing but disdain and we were to have a follow-up meeting and we never had it so they need to be reined in and all these government NGOs need to be reined in as a result of a PQ recently by Deputy Carl Nolan there's 36,000 NGOs costing 5.5 billion annually 5.5 billion of taxpayers' money what wouldn't that do now for the back to school or to lessen the crisis if half of it or nine-tenths of it was there they have mushroomed up all over the place and they are effectively dictating policy to the government and the governments and successive governments have given them too much hearing that plant almost disappeared because of people who are in good jobs mostly retired and big pensions are in public jobs living in nice places where they got planning themselves but now they don't want anyone else to get planning talk about talk about minding the fox minding the in-house but I'm just saying they got planning in lucrative areas my county in Ballinair and lovely areas and they object to anybody else getting it it's a shocking situation and we didn't meet the president the boss of Antashgall Farrell Macdonagh and we'd love to have met him but we didn't meet him but we met his colleagues there but as I said we might as well be talking to Petticoat Lewis and Bailoch that's where I'd be that's down in South Tipperary as well so as I said I could be like other people here this bill and I'm shocked to think of the amendments we don't know what you're going to bring in next week and you I mean we're here four days a week already and he is Ant obviously but I know it is I accept that but we have some constituents to represent as well I know you're hiding from him but they'll find you with the Pell and Louie extinctions and a busker they'll find you and you'll be fairly low down the list when there's that map and that pencil I can tell you if you treat the people like this if you treat them like that you know what to expect but we're treating the house badly too and poorly and I'm not blaming you but I'm blaming the government as a whole the cabinet it's one piece of legislation after the next guillotine guillotine guillotine 45 minutes for a very important piece of legislation last night and you know and the opposition want to be helpful and pass the likes of the situation regarding the special needs schools and all the rest of it but this is just stretching it beyond it's incredible if you could stretch it like this now the qualities I mean listen some qualities can do what they like and the big numbers and I won't mention any because but everyone knows what I'm talking about and they have I was an admirer of Sean Quinn for decades because he brought competition to the market with ready-mix cement and when I used to be travelling from Oman Manor on a Monday morning very early I used to meet a couple hundred trucks in the road the green moving around it was a pressure it's a pity what happened I don't know he got greedy or whatever happened but he brought that badly needed competition because most of the small ready-mix owners in my county were wiped out by big condomers wiped out and we're going to do the same now the small quality owners if they have infringements and blatant infringements yes they have to operate within the law but we're going to heavy hand off the law down on top of them and the big condomers can wheel out the best barristers and they can hold it up and hold it up and this only happened in Ireland this is international a pattern what's going on there so I fierce concern for the jobs for the self-implied quality owners who have built up business over the years maybe have 10 20 up to 50 employees and the costs of the electricity now to run the crushing plants and the cost of fuel and the cost of everything else and if they're gone we'll have no competition and then what'll happen we'll be in real trouble as I said someone asked why do we need now an office of the planning regulator because the county development plans and our one is going to be concluded on Monday they were really after two and a half years but the whole power that the county council has had on the making of the plan and debate and discussion is overruled by the planning regulator completely and utterly so why do we need all these great and powerful positions created to take away the power from the democratically elected people on the councils I mean they had and there's one power that they had and the one power that we enjoy not power but the one function that they had and they dealt with it fairly and reasonably in most cases there was obviously shenanigans going on in the past and they have to be they were rooted out and had to be rooted out but now it's gone to one man he can do really like it he's not handsome with anyone oh yes he looked to meet me he said about it on my group but we didn't meet him because we have fellas now our people now in big comfortable chairs nice closed office with a blessed plaque in the wall and they wield the power and they have the ear of government Board Penola I know I won't stray into it because there's an investigation going on and there could be possible possible legal challenges and whatever it's not functioning I have a decision just a simple decision in Newin County Dipperary very important for the people living there there's a poor mess right up on top of a house and the local areas are objecting and rightly so because there's plenty other right beside a listed building actually this is in the cuttleage of the three or four listed buildings including a relic an old graveyard in the cuttleage of this mass but Board Penola have actually postponed the decision deadline three times and what have they done now they've just abandoned the process they haven't abandoned they're still in the system but they have given no deadline now as to when they might make a decision it's just they had one and they put it off for a month or two and a month or two and now they're just vague there's no decision date on it and that's happening with a lot of projects so Board Penola is not fit for purpose there's too much political influences I think Deputy Linden alluded to too as far as I'm concerned there and it's not transparent and we'll see when all the dirty linen is washed we'll see when the clothes are hanging out the line a good summer's day like today they'll be fairly well stained and the washing machine and dazers or whatever they call it that they use now I don't know but if I'm away from daz I'm not saying I'm a bad homemaker now that I don't do some washing but I'm not up to speed and the capsules that go in the type of them that go into the washing machine but it used to be it used to be soft from daz when I was a dean I remember that as well but look we have a lot of cleaning up to do so this bill is not fit for purpose and as I said it's coming a measuring legislation long after the Supreme Court gave its judgment and why the rush and not enough time and I look forward and I will sit and wait for you give us some idea of the government amendments government amendments imagine that we haven't seen sight of you have a briefing on Monday and there's a schedule to come in next week and go to the Senate and back and forward and be passed I never saw it like it should the government lay out its amendments how are we going to have time to put in our amendments and have studied the bill and studied whatever briefing you're going to give us on Monday and have the resources to get them in and any minute they'll be ruled out of order and if they won't be ruled out of order we'll have the guillotine they'll be coming down as like a big sharp tool to cut off all debates so we need a examination it's backwards we've gone as regards debating legislation and the opposition have an input way backwards we've gone we have regressed there in my time in this stall and we've really regressed in this stall and then we get lectures from the tarnished and the t-shirt that were bringing in reports and bringing in private members' motions or whatever it's our duty government wasn't acting now all the actors have come together it's like the opera house we opened again and we have all these 19 pieces of legislation that we're trying to get through in a mad panic so rushed legislation in my opinion is bad legislation just as denied at the latest is just as denied and we're not dealing with the real issues the elephant in the room as I said and I do think that people have must have a right to object certainly but frivolous objections and from NGOs and people like that who are well paid of taxpayers' money objecting to taxpayers who try to put a roof over their own head it's just as bonkers as I'm concerned and it's not fair on Sean Citizen and Mary Citizen and the people and it's not what Cahal Brewer fought for and the people like that back in the war of independence I can't call it as you referred to this morning and I want to be associated with your remarks as well Gaur Markoff Thank you very much and